Many people dream of a life on the road, but that doesn’t necessarily mean having to become a pilot or travel blogger. One of the new specializations that has appeared in the healthcare sector relatively recently is professional travel nurses. According to TravelNursing, this career path offers a combination of stable finances and opportunity for career growth with the flexibility and adventures of traveling.
1. Professional Growth & Career Enhancement
Nursing itself already offers a wide array of professional growth and career enhancement opportunities through specializations as well as continuing medical educational options. According to educator Allied Health Institute, one of the great things about working as a travel nurse is the experience of working at a range of facilities and experiencing the difference between hospitals and private practices or other facilities. Each new location allows the nurse to pick up new skill sets, meet new challenges, as well as putting them in contact with several new people.
2. The Pay Raise
The unusual schedule that travel nurses put themselves up for in choosing this path comes with the compensation of generous hourly pay rates, shift differentials, overtime, and even bonuses. It’s not just competitive hourly wages that travel nurses can take advantage of, they often get access to free furnished housing and great health insurance from the get go. Another way travel nurses can win bonuses is through friend referrals, something that can be quite lucrative. Assignments for nurses usually lasts 8-13 weeks at a time and they pull in around $10,000 more than the normal annual median wage for registered nurses.
3. A Lower Cost of Living
Becoming a travel nurse lowers the cost of living, especially since many of the top travel nursing companies make sure their nurses get into free, private housing when filling assignments. Many travel nurses choose assignments in areas known for lower cost of living as well. In this way travel nurses can practically eliminate most of the pesky living expenses people deal with and dramatically decrease their spending. According to American Nurse Today, it’s one of the many important perks of travel nursing.
4. More Freedom & Flexibility
Traveling brings with it a much higher degree of freedom and flexibility than can ever be achieved by those tied down to the same job in the same location. Travel nurses are sort of freelancers, being able to take time off in between assignments if they wish to visit family and friends or take extensive vacations. In this way being a travel nurse offers even more chances for travel since there’s time in between work to cruise to a new location anywhere on the globe.
5. New People & Places
Undoubtedly one of the best part of traveling that travel nurses get to take advantage of is the thrilling opportunity to always be meeting new people and seeing new places. Each new assignment means meeting a whole new area, not just the city, but all the surroundings. Travel nurses can meet people both in and out of facility they are working in, giving them the chance to make friends across the country. This alone is an exciting prospect, but it comes with the added benefit of preventing workplace burnout. Moving to new places and being with new people prevents having to deal with the stress of workplace politics or squabbles. There’s always a refreshing new start around the corner for travel nurses.